Julion meets Barak

I don't know if Julio's greeting here is scary or dripping with sarcasm. I think it's the former, I hope it's the latter.

The only thing we have to fear is hope itself (or something like that)

News item:

Charles Krauthammer : Crisis, Catastrophe: Are These Words of Hope? - Townhall.com:

"'A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.'
-- President Obama, Feb. 4.

WASHINGTON -- Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared 'we have chosen hope over fear.' Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill."

Comment: I guess that hope, change, and bipartisanship and all of that were just empty campaign words. I'm shocked, shocked.

The true catastrophe will come when we've burned through a trillion dollars and, because the whole process was rushed, we aren't any better off than we would have been without throwing money at it.

It ain't over yet

News item:

The Great Overreach by Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online:

"The stimulus bill has failed. Barack Obama has failed. The Trojan Horse of Hope and Change crashed into the guardrail of reality, revealing an army of ideologues and activists inside.

Now, before I continue, let me say that Barack Obama will still be popular, he will still get things done, and he will declare victory after signing a stimulus bill.

But Obama’s moment is gone, and politics is about nothing if not moments."

Comment: A good article by Goldberg, but it seems to me that he's celebrating prematurely. This is far, far from over and plenty of pork and left-wing payoffs will be in a "compromise" measure.

This is just too good

No introduction needed.

Beckel tells Dems to be afraid of Steele

News item:

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Democrats: Beware of Michael Steele:

"After blasting Republicans for an endless string of missteps last week, I concede the GOP finally got one right. Electing the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Michael Steele, to chair the Republican National Committee is a smart move for the GOP and a warning for Democrats.

I have spent hours with Steele at the Fox News studios, and in dozens of TV encounters, and at dinners. Steele is a friendly, formidable, and very partisan man who should not be underestimated."

Comment: This is by liberal blowhard Bob Beckel and he's saying that his side should be very worried about newly elected RNC Chair Michael Steele, because he's an effective communicator and a staunch conservative.

The former never has been in question, the latter has been.

I'm not so sure that an endorsement by Beckel is a good thing, but it's interesting nonetheless.

A Lot at Stake—Virginia 2009

There is no allowance for election fatigue in Virginia.

There are no off years in the commonwealth. In even-numbered years we have the Federal elections along with the rest of the country. While most states take the odd-numbered years off. But in the Old Dominion, those years are for the elections for state offices.

In 2007, Virginia's shift from Red to Blue in the presidential race was foreshadowed when the Democrats wrested control of the Senate of Virginia from the GOP for the first time since 1999. Those are four-year terms and all seats are up for grabs at once.

The Republicans managed to maintain their control of the lower chamber, the 100-member House of Delegates, in '07. However, that once vice-like grip on control there has slipped. Since the 2001 elections, the Democrats have steadily added a total of 10 seats, giving the GOP a 54-44 lead with two independents.

Next year there will be elections for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and all 100 seats in the GOP-controlled House of Delegates.

It's not hyperbole to say that this local election will have global implications.

If the Republicans can take back the Governor's Mansion from the Democrats (VA has a one-term limit so incumbent Democrat Tim Kaine can't run), and strengthen their control of the House of Delegates, that would be taken as a message that the state's Blue status in '08 may have been an isolated phenomenon. Such victories would be a major morale boost to the party nationwide.

If, on the other hand, the Democrats keep the governor's chair and take away most or all of the seven seats they would need to control the HOD, talk would be of a permanent realignment. Liberals everywhere would be emboldened while Republicans would be dispirited.

The GOP nominee for governor is Bob McDonnell, who is the sitting Attorney General. On the Democratic side, the candidate could be a Clinton-era figure, Terry McAuliffe. The former DNC Chairman has lived in McLean for many years, but he would need a road map to find his way outside the Beltway.

McDonnell is considered to be a strong favorite, but a year ago it was odds on that the Old Dominion would go for the GOP presidential candidate.

Nothing will happen unless all Republicans, especially those of us who live in Virginia, make it happen.

New GOP Site Message: “I don’t get it!”

The GOP has cranked up a Website entitled "Republican for a Reason" to try to get grassroots input about the future of the party.

Good idea, horrible execution. My experience there shows me that the rushed this out with no beta testing leading to a poor user experience. It screams "I don't get it" coming from the GOP.

I went to leave my text input and I took some time to compose a message. When I hit the button to submit I got an error message saying that I used "illegal symbols" in the text. I had nothing that could be confused as an HTML tag, just parenthesis and apostrophes. There is no link to help besides a token set of FAQ's, nobody to whom I can report the problem.

In a more minor annoyance, they assign you a randomly-generated password when you sign up but there is no place to go to change it something you can, you know, actually remember.

I'll check back at some point but I'm not going to waste time dealing with a bug that I can't report.

The key phrase above is "I'll check back". A lot of current and potential Republicans won't.